Smoke and Shadow
by Dead4play
Summary: David is assigned to a newly formed Specialized Response Team, Shadow Squad. A team whose sole objective is targeting gangs and organisations famed for stealing pokemon, but what happens to pokemon that were not taken from a trainer? What happens if a pokemon falls for him? Will he be able to return those feelings? -/Warning: Contains Pokephilia/- ****Currently On hiatus*****
1. Prologue

**Prologue:  
** November XXXX, LOCATION UNIDENTIFIED  
 _'If they stand behind you, protect them. If they stand with you, respect they stand as your enemy, show them no mercy.'_ An odd mantra considering my job David pondered. We live in a world created by a singular all-powerful being, populated with monsters that could kill a human with a single blow and our response was to catch them, training them, battling them, raising them, studying them and in some cases keeping them as pets.

David let out a sigh as the whine of jet engines filled the troop bay of the dropship, the sound softened only by the sound of the wind rushing in from the open aft doors.

"Airman, how much further till we reach Oracle Station. I'm starting to get a little antsy back here." David groaned over his radio.

"Not much farther now sir," said a voice over the radio "We are flying over Rustboro City now, Eta to Oracle Station about 10 minutes."

Unfastening himself from one of the many seats in the troop bay David stood up and moved closer to the open aft door making sure he held the bulkhead tightly as he looking out over the large town as the flew overhead. He wasn't able to get a good look at the town, David was able to see a range of buildings from high-rises to the all too familiar sight of red and blue buildings no doubt to be the local Pokémon centre and mart. He could just make out the sight of people on the streets walking around some with Pokémon.

The view was gone faster that David could take it all in, replaced with dense bushland probably swarming with all species of Pokémon. A sudden shift shook the dropship causing him to stumble slightly if it wasn't for the fact that he was still holding onto the bulkhead David would have flown right out the rear door.

The sudden voice of the pilot came over the radio "Sorry for that Corporal, Flock of wingull just flew in our path. We didn't lose you back there did we?"

Forcing a chuckle David started walking to the cockpit door "It will take a lot more than that to get rid of me airman." He laughed as he entered.

David looked at the airman who flinched slightly at his presence. Shifting his view to the windscreen he saw his new home for his current deployment, Oracle Station. One of the smaller bases that David had seen, it more resembled a research facility rather than a League Specialized Response Team (SRT) outpost. There were 3 major buildings that caught his eye, two buildings resembling office buildings but the windows were darker than night. Both buildings were topped with air pad, with smaller aircraft landing and taking off . The last building was a dome-like structure which looked to be made up of hexagon panel, each panel had a golden hue to it.

"Better get your gear ready Corporal I won't be putting this bird on the ground." The voice of the pilot shaking David out of his thoughts.

"Right," David said, moving back into the troop bay.

After retrieving his duffel bags filled with everything he will need for his stint at the outpost, slinging one of the duffel bags over his right shoulder David moved towards the aft doors. Gone was the forest which had been replaced with the black metal finish of an air pad, upon which stood three people and two Pokémon. The three people seemed to be looking directly at him whilst the pokemon stared at the airship. The first was a white male clad in black combat armour, he had seedot coloured hair and pale gold eyes. The second was a tanned looking male dressed in a military uniform, he wore a green Patrol cap and was halfway through a cigar smoke escaping through the sides of his mouth. The last was a sandy coloured female, a researcher by the looks of it if the lab coat didn't already give it away. She had dark purple hair and teal eyes making her stand out the most of the three. The researcher was flanked on both sides by the Pokémon; both bipedal the first was red with accents of beige, yellow, and grey a slight chicken-like appearance confirming it as Blaziken a native to the Hoenn region. The second was a Pokémon that David had never seen before, more canine-like, with fur that is predominantly blue and black with a small round spike on each of its forepaws with a third on its chest.

As David disembarked the airship the group approached, sound of the jet engine firing up making it hard for him to hear much of anything.

"Corporal" came a booming voice from the first man, as the airship took off towards its next destination "It's good to have new blood grace us, welcome to Oracle Station. I'm Captain Samuel Wall..., " was all Samuel was able to get out before getting cut off by the young researcher.

"Hiiiii I'm Dr Joyce Mercy." Rushed the researcher, looking at David enthusiastically "OH MY ARCEUS, It's so good to get a new face out here I look forward to seeing what you bring to the table Mr Ummm..." she squealed in excitement as she bounded up to David with an outstretched hand.

"Lance Corporal David Kanter ma'am," replied David returned with his own hand as she grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously. David recoiled slightly with the pure pressure that she was outputting.

"Come on Joyce no need to rip his arm off on his first day here." Chuckled the second man as he put out his cigar and stowing it for later. "Colonel Flint Lockhart." it was his turn to shake Davids' hand, It was a strong and formal one giving David an idea on what Colonel Flint was like. "Just call me Flint and follow my orders to the letter and we'll get along just fine recruit," He said in a gruff voice, nodding his head at David.

Davids view returned to Samuel, who was glaring at Dr Joyce. Joyce let out a small squeak before Samuel spoke up again moving in for a handshake of his own. "Well as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I am Captain Samuel Wallander," Samuel said shaking Davids' hand, the handshake was similar to flints but colder due to the armour plates on his hands.  
A small growl came from behind the group from the two pokemon catching David slightly off-guard.

"Ahhhh where are my manners," Joyce exclaimed following David's gaze. "Allow me to introduce you to Talon the Blaziken and Fang the Lucario" Talon and Fang nodded at David, a gesture that he returned.

"I-It's nice to meet you both." David stuttered slightly, "Wait, a Lucario, so that's what he is. I've never seen one before, I was under the impression that they could only be found in the Sinnoh region."

Joyce smiled "Lucario can be found in many different regions however my one is from Sinnoh, it was his birthplace as is mine."

A small cough came from Samuel, making Davids' focus return to him. "Well Corporal, we have plenty more introductions to do so I think I'll show you where you will be staying while you are here."

"Well I'll leave the tour to you then Samuel, I have a very long day ahead of me. If you wish to speak to me soldier, Samuel here will be able to give you the directions to my office." Huffed Flint as he started on his way to one of the exits of the air pad.

Whilst David watched him leave a purple blur jumped next to David, "I'm sadly in the same boat and I would have loved to give you the tour myself, but I have a number of people and Pokémon to look after so sorry." Joyce frowned mockingly, before starting to walk away tailed by her Pokémon. "Oh yeah. Come visit me in the lab after you get situated, I need to give you a physical." She said giving David a wink, before continuing walking towards the large exit of the air pad.

"Well… I think she likes you." Samuel chuckled before turning to face David, "All right let's get a move on we are burning daylight." With that said, Samuel turned and started to walk towards the air pad exit. "I'm glad to have you on the team David, reading over your file I'm surprised you hadn't been snapped up by the other fireteams already. Trained to mastery of hand to hand combat, long range, close quarters and to top off the list medically trained to support human as well as Pokémon." Samuel turns to David with a smirk. "Seriously is there anything you can't do?"

"You picked me, sir? I wasn't aware of that." A hint of surprise in David's voice as they entered an elevator.

"Yes, I did. I'll say this now though, there will be no solo missions for you here. You are now part of a team." Samuel said eyeing David looking for his reaction.

"Sir, yes sir" David nodded.

"Good to hear" Samuel stated, exiting the elevator. The duo started moving through a maze of hallways.

"Now." Samuel paused walking up to a door and tapping away at a small transmitter that was on his wrist. "You were given a Pokedex before you arrived correct?" David nodded, "Good, permissions should have gone through. The Pokedex will be your main passport for this base, it is your personal Pokedex, ID, access card and Room Key so don't lose it or the requisitions department will have your head."

David pulled the little red device out of his pocket and looked at it. "That device will give you access to most if not all areas of Oracle Station, all you need to do is tap it near the terminal next to any of the doors and it will let you in if you have the clearance that is." Samuel taped his wrist-mounted device to a small terminal at the side of the door and immediately the door slid open. "there are three main buildings to Oracle the one we are currently in is the barracks, this will be your bunk."

"We get a room to ourselves, sir?" David sounding surprised, normally bunks were mixed in together not leaving much privacy. All through basic training, he was housed in bays, having to share both living space and showers.

Walking into the room David was shocked to see the size of his new living quarters. On the left side of the room was a bed and nightstand with a small holographic alarm clock, further down was a small grey couch. in front of the couch was a small wood framed coffee table with a smoked glass centre. To the right side of the room was a medium flat screen tv next to a small desk with a computer on it, closer to the door was a large wardrobe and a small cubby next to the door for what David guessed was to put his boots. The room also came with its own en-suite bathroom, which contained all the essentials such as a shower, toilet and sink.

"More than you're used to huh?" Samuel chuckled, "What you will be doing here at Oracle will be fairly stressful David, all members of SRT have similar rooms. It's a place to relax after a stressful day at work, in any case, we're here to just drop off your stuff you can get settled later."

David dropped the duffle bags on his new bed and walked to the door, still in shock at the size of the room that he will call his home for the duration of his deployment.

"Oracle Station consists of 3 major sections the first is the Barracks where we currently are." stated Samuel, " The second is deployment, it's the building adjacent to this one. It's where we go for briefing, getting supplied and setting out on assignment. It is also there that you will find Colonel Flints office." Samuel turned his head to David.

"The third and final section is the medical and research centre, it's the large golden dome. If you or a pokemon are hurt you go to the research centre they will fix anything wrong, it is also the lair of Dr Joyce Mercy." As both exited a hall David found they had just entered a large room filled with a few sofas, a few tables, a pingpong table and a pool table. There were a few people around some even being accompanied by pokemon.

"This is our recreation room, as I said before our line of work tends to be stressful and this place is by far the best place to come relax and meet new people." just as Samuel said that a woman with short blue hair jumped over one of the couches and made a beeline straight for the two of them.

"So this the new guy?" she asked, eyeing David up and down like a piece of meat. "I thought you would be taller." a small black pokemon trailed her, it had a sleek black body with four slender legs. David immediately identified it as an Umbreon but there was something different about it, the markings on its body were blue not the golden yellow they were known for and its eyes instead of being a dark crimson shone a beautiful gold.

"Ah Lucy I didn't know you were here, I thought you would still be at the training ground." Samuel scratched his head, "David this is First Lieutenant Lucy is my second in command and this is her Umbreon Midnight."

"Lance Corporal David Kanter, Nice to meet you both" he outstretched his hand which she gladly met with a firm handshake.

"Likewise." she smiled.

"Umbre-Umbreon." the little black pokemon cried happily.

Davids attention drew to Midnight" I thought Umbreon's eyes were red with gold markings."  
"Umbre Um-bre breon." Smiled at David, who was looking between Lucy and Midnight with a confused look on his face.

"She just said that she is what is known as a shiny pokemon, I take it you haven't gone for implantation yet have you." sighed Lucy.

"Implanted ma'am?" with a look of even more confusion David turned to Samuel in hope for an explanation.

"Ah, that probably what Doc wants you for." Samuel started scratching his head, "Yeah all members of Shadow Squad have been outfitted with a device that allows us to understand pokespeech. Think those pokemon translator devices that you can strap to your ear except this one is tiny and is implanted into your brain."

"Wait you mean that Doctor Joyce wants to crack open my skull and stick something in my brain just so I can understand what a pokemon says." David flinched, with fear in his voice and an image of Dr Joyce laughing like a mad scientist in his mind.

"Relax would ya," Lucy smiled whilst letting out a giggle. "The process is quick and quite painless, you might get a slight headache from it for a day or two but it's nothing an Oran berry and a glass of milk won't fix. In our line of work, being able to understand pokemon is crucial ."

David rolled his eyes. "There it is again, our line of work. May I enquire, in what line of duty I have been assigned to. The only information that I received before arriving here from Apex base was that I was being sent to Oracle Station, and that I would be briefed on my duties on arrival."

Lucy and Samuel looked at each other before Samuel turned back to face David.

"As you already know I chose you. With all your qualifications I believed you to be the best candidate to fill in the final spot in Shadow Squad. It is our job like many fireteams, to capture facilities of illegal gangs and organisations. These gangs or organisations normally are ones famed for stealing pokemon from trainers, it is our job to capture these facilities and recover the pokemon." Samuel stated, his hand moving to his chin. "The pokemon are then transported here to Oracle before being processed. Stolen pokemon are returned to the trainers that initially caught them and pokemon caught by gangs or organisations will be rehabilitated and released into the wild."

"I see..." David said bluntly, slowly processing the information. "Well then … Glad to be onboard then sir."

"Glad to hear that." Lucy and Samuel said in unison, turning to look at each other.

"Umbre." Midnight purred happily rubbing against Davids' leg, as he bent down and scratched her behind her ear as she continued to purr.

"She said that she is happy to have you on board." Lucy smiled looking at David and how Midnight reacted to his touch.

"Is she on the team as well?" he asked continuing to scratch Midnight as the glow from her blue rings started to grow brighter.

"No, our team consists of Human personnel only," said Lucy nonchalantly. "I've had Midnight since I was a little girl, I had to get permission to allow her to stay here with me. A little bit of paperwork never killed anybody before, and it is worth it to have a friend like her around. Another plus is, she is able to assist with pokemon rehabilitation so it's a win-win."

"Do you have any pokemon, David?" Samuel asked, beginning to notice how Umbreon seemed to be in bliss at his touch. "Coz you really know how to treat a pokemon."

David froze at Samuels question and ceased petting Midnight, the pokemon pouting looking back at David hoping he would continue. "No… my parents had a Poochyena when I was smaller.I would normally play with and pet him the same way. I was also taught how to interact with pokemon during my pokemon medical training." He chuckled nervously, hoping he wasn't coming across as weird.

"Haha, well I think it shows your ability with pokemon, Midnight is a little bit fussy and normally take a while to warm up to new people." Lucy grinned, "Welp we should let you both continue with the tour, Oh and David if you need anything, my room is 214 it's on the third floor."  
As David waved to the departing duo, he couldn't help but notice the Umbreon talking to Lucy with a blush on her face. _'huh, maybe midnight is shyer than I thought.'_ he thought. A small tap from Samuel, however, brought David back to reality.

As they continued on with the tour, Samuel was able to show David all the facilities offered at Oracle Station. The base was like nothing David had ever seen before. The tour took them both to the mess hall, shooting range and training area all seemed normal for a military base but then out of the blue a came a fifty-metre pool. The tour ended as they both made their way back to the recreation room, David was still processing everything that he was just shown.

"Well, I think it's time I left you to your own devices now, If you have any more issues, don't hesitate to ask around."Samuel gave David one last handshake before turning to leave, " Ah before I forget, you will be fully incorporated into shadow squad after the augmentation procedure so I ask you get it done tomorrow so we can add you to the roster. Good luck corporal, and again welcome to Oracle Station."

With that David was left alone in the mostly silent rec room, _'Sooo what to do now, little late to go and see Dr Joyce.'_ he pondered as he looked at his watch. _'ten o'clock might be a good idea to sort out my room then.'_

David moved out of the room heading in the direction of the elevator. After twenty minutes of trying to gather his bearings , David finally reached the door of his bunk. Stepping inside, David took off his boots and placed them in the small cubby. Next was unpacking his bags, David put away all of the clothes in his new wardrobe before finally collapsing onto the bed.

 _'Well, I definitely think this place will be interesting'_ he thought slowly drifting asleep.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**

 **NOVEMBER XXXX, ORACLE STATION.**

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* David blindly swung his arm over in an attempt to shut off the alarm.

*Click*

"Goooood morning," said a familiar voice.

Sitting up he looked over at the clock, 'What in Giratina's name...' he thought before shifting over and taking a better look at the clock.

"Oh your not even up yeah, oops." went the disembodied voice.

"Ummm, hello?" stuttered David sitting up and looking around the room.

"Down here on your nightstand darling," said the voice, looking in that direction David spotted a small holographic projection. On it was a live feed of Dr Joyce, she was looking at David trying to stifle a giggle.

"Welp, didn't know this was a thing." David stated blankly.

"Sorry for the wake up call David but I wanted to let you know I need you to come by around ten thirty for augmentation." Joyce smiled, "The process will take about twenty to thirty minutes and needs to be done right away. Colonel Flint has informed me that he wants you deployment ready ASAP."

"I'll be there Doctor," replied David with a nod.

"Great, the laboratory number is B Three hundred and twelve. Don't make me wait." Winking, Dr Joyce's image disappeared and was replaced with the time.

Looking again at the clock he noted the time, 'eight o'clock, I best get up then.'

Jumping up, David looked around the room. There was still a bit of a mess left over from unpacking last night but that would have to wait till later. Noting that he was still wearing the clothes that he arrived in, David moved to the bathroom. Stepping inside he started to take off his shirt, spying himself in the mirror it was hard to believe that the person staring back was him. David was always as skinny but over the last year he had transformed from a twig to a log, well not a log as such but definitely a thick branch. Flexing his right bicep was now met with a large bulge, his pecs once soft and flabby were now solid and more defined. Moving his gaze to his head he was met with deep blue eyes and platinum wavy hair that was currently all over the place. Snapping back to reality David leaned into the shower and turned on the hot water, he then started removing the rest of his clothes before jumping in.

After the shower and getting dressed, David headed towards the mess hall. The mess hall reminded him of a school cafeteria, rows upon rows of long tables with a range of circular tables to the western side of the hall. Jumping onto the line to get served, David looked ahead to see what was on the menu. There was a nice selection of food consisting of eggs, omelettes, cereals, fruits, berries, as well as a range of breads and top of having human food the cafeteria also had a range of pokemon food as well, laid out on the counter were various poffins, poke puffs and kibble. At the end of the food bar was coolers of water and juices. There was also a coffee machine.

Reaching the top of the serving station, David began to choose what he wanted. Not wanting to pick anything heavy, he chose a fruit salad, a razz berry muffin and a simple cup of black coffee. Now the hard part, finding a place to sit. In the course of 10 minutes, the tables had started to be filled to capacity. After walking around for a minute something caught David's eye, in his peripheral vision he saw someone waving. Turning his head to get a better view he saw the blue hair of Lucy, she was sitting at one of the round tables. To her left sat Midnight happily snacking on a bowl of kibble, looking up slightly she stopped eating seeing David approach. They were not the only ones at the table, sitting to Lucy's right was a girl around the same age with long black hair tied back into a ponyta-tail. Across the table sat a man around the same age as David, he had green eyes and dark blonde hair. Both were eyeing him curiously as he approached, when he was close enough all three stood up as Lucy took a step towards him.

"Hey hey, you looked a little lost there David. The fire-team tables are over here," Lucy chuckled.

"I wasn't aware that fire-teams got their own tables." chuckled David moving close to the table.

"Bah, I knew Samuel would probably forget to say something about it. Anyway," Turning to gesture to the others at the table. "Let me introduce you to the other members of Shadow Squad. This lovely lady here is Corporal Alice Reindl."

Putting his food tray on the table next to Midnight, David extended his hand to her.

"Nice to meet you," Alice said whilst shaking David's hand. Her voice was soft, with an almost motherly vibe to it. Her handshake was the same, gentle but firm. Not the type handshake one would expect from someone from a specialized response team.

"And the final member Corporal Soren Polya." Lucy pointed to the man with dark blonde hair.

Walking around the table slightly Soren came around for his own handshake.

"Pleasure tae be workin' wi' ya," Soren smiled. His accent was one David had never heard before, it was definitely not from Hoenn at least. His handshake was rough, with a tight grip. Though it was nothing to the shoulder dislocating handshake Dr Joyce gave him.

"Umbreon! Umbre breon." exclaimed Midnight happily, pawing the seat next to her.

"Midnight said good morning and that you should sit next to her." Lucy chuckled as the three returned to their seats.

Smiling at Midnight, David gave her a good morning of his own. He also accepted her offer, taking the seat next to her.

"I've never heard that accent before, where are you from Soren?" David asked, his eyes locking with Sorens.

"Johtae is mah home region, aam nae surprised 'at ye huvnae heard it before tho." Soren laughed, "The accent tis bonnie common around Olivine city."

"Ah, i see." David smiled, "I haven't met very many people from Johto before, I'm actually from Hoenn myself."

"Really so am I," Piped up Alice. "Where exactly, I'm from Lavaridge Town."

"Oh really, I'm actually from Verdanturf town myself." smiled David, "I've actually been to Lavaridge before, I went the on holidays with my parents when I was younger. They have the best hot springs in Hoenn." David said, picking up his razz berry muffin and taking a bite.

"Verdanturf huh, wow that's not too far from Oracle Station." She smiled back, "I think I've been there before but only in passing. My family used the Rusturf Tunnel to get to Rustboro quicker, I have family there."

"What about you Lucy, where are you two from?" David said slightly mumbling, due to having taken another bite of his muffin.

"Midnight and I are from Malie City, on Ula'ula Island in Alola," stated Lucy nonchalant.

After about ten minutes of stories, the four had finished their meals and the topic had changed back to David once again.

"Sae David Ah heard 'at ye huvnae hae th' augmentation yit, " he eyed David, his tone becoming a little bit more serious. "Has doctur Joyce booked ye in?"

"Yeah, booked me in today around ten thirty. It seems Colonel Flint wants me ready for deployment asap." Davids' voice showed his nervousness, looking into his coffee cup. "In all seriousness, what is the procedure like?"

Alice was the first to speak up, her voice seeming to calm down and reassure David. "The procedure itself is relatively painless, they drill small holes on both sides of your skull as well as the back, before implanting three tiny chips onto the brain."

"Aye, it only hurts fur a wee bit when th' drill hits th' skin" Soren piped up. "Efter 'at totally numb."

Alice, Lucy and Midnight glared at Soren. His attempt to reassure David only seeming to succeed in darkening his fears of the upcoming procedure.

"Whit, aam bein' honest." he replied to the glares, "Aam more surprised by th' fact 'at him gettin' it dain sae early, when Ah arrived haur it took me three weeks afair they pit me ben augmentation."

"Yeah, but you don't have the credentials like David here does." Lucy said turning to David, "Trust me you will be fine, nobody has died from the procedure." As soon as she had said that David seemed to calm down a little bit.

"Yet," Soran added, laughing.

The glares were back, this only prompted Soran to laugh harder.

It was Midnight's turn to try and comfort David, crawling into his lap she popped her front paws on his chest.

"Umbreon, um umbre." Midnight spoke, her golden eyes looking deep into his.

Sighing David put his hand on Midnight's head, giving it a light pat.

"I'll be honest if that really does allow me to understand pokespeech, then I look forward to getting it so I can have a proper conversation with you Midnight." He said as Midnight nuzzled into his hand, spurring him to stroke harder.

"It's ten fifteen now, you know." Lucy said looking at her watch, "Tell you what, we'll walk you over."

"That would be great, thanks." smiled David, as Midnight jumped off of his lap.

Taking their food trays to the waste station and clearing them, the five of them headed out. Exiting out of the barracks, the group was met with a sunlit glass walkway that overlooked a dense garden oasis. Below the group could see people and pokemon, most of the people seemed to be researchers with the odd soldier mixed in. On the other hand, the pokemon were mostly first form pokemon, with the odd second stage here and there. Slowing slightly David took in the sight, on the tour around the facility yesterday the area below the walkway was clear of people and pokemon. Now, however, there were pokemon playing happily.

"All those pokemon are ones that we've taken from the grunts of the organisations that we have raided," Lucy said, moving beside David. She watched as two Zigzagoons chased each other, seemingly playing a game of tag. "They are the few that we retain from raiding said organisations."

"They look very happy," David commented, as he began to watch the same two Zigzagoons.

"They ur th' lucky ones." Soren piped up, looking the other direction at a few Rattata who were scurrying in and out of bushes. "These ones waur used in battle an' ur treated better, we hae seen mony worse aff. some dornt make it." Stopping his gaze lifted, as he watched a pair of Taillow performing aerial acrobatics for no audience in particular.

"That is the reason the SRT was formed." Replied Lucy. "We are the ones who bring those who want to abuse pokemon for their own personal gain. Thieves, smugglers and black market sellers they are some of the types of bastards that we take down." Her tone was cold like ice, David could understand the hatred in her voice. Nobody should ever have to go through that type of treatment, not even Pokemon.

Continuing on David marvelled at the range of pokemon being kept at Oracle Station, pokemon from a range of regions were being cared for on site. David noted pokemon from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and Alola. Even though David was well versed in pokemon species, there were still some that even he couldn't identify after all not everyone is able to remember over eight hundred plus species of pokemon.

Soon the five of them came across a round observation platform, around the sides of this area were benches where people and pokemon sat watching those below. In the centre there were two spiral staircases leading down to a grassy area below, in between those was a circular elevator carrying a few pokemon researchers and their pokemon back up to the observation area. On the western side of the platform, there was a walkway similar to the one they just arrived from, however that one led to the deployment building. There was also a short walkway leading to the large golden dome to the north of the platform. Walking close to the dome a sign could be seen over the entrance that read 'Medical Center'. Feeling something brush up against his leg, David looked down. Midnight was sitting next to him, looking up at him with a smile. Entering through the sliding doors the group was met with a hospital styled reception.

"This way," said Lucy, turning and walking towards the hallway. "The labs are on the second floor."

Following Lucy, the group found an elevator bay. Looking back David saw the walls of the dome from the inside, they acted as extremely tinted windows that allowed anyone to see out. A ding from the elevator bay redrew Davids attention, the doors slid open and the group quickly piled in. Lucy tapped on a button on the elevators control pad that said labs, she then followed that up by tapping a device agents a terminal. Like Samuel, Lucy wore a Pokedex on her wrist.

"Dam, where can I get one of those. They are more convenient than having to lug around this old thing," David chuckled, pulling out his Pokedex.

"Prove yerself oan a raid an' ye micht be able tae gie one yerself," Soren smirked, holding out his wrist to show off his own Pokedex. Unlike Samuels' and Lucy's black pokedexes, Sorens' wrist mounted Pokedex was hot rod red.

"You are one to boast, you only got your one last week," smirked Alice, crossing her arms and showing off her hot pink Pokedex.

"I'm the only one that doesn't have one," David sulked looking down at the floor where midnight sat giggling at his reaction.

Reaching the second floor the group were met with a long hallway, researchers dotted the hallway looking through windows. Walking along the hallway David couldn't help but look through one of the windows, inside he could see researchers carrying out experiments on pokemon. Most of the labs look like they were testing chemicals on the pokemon, and just before he could ask about it the group came to an abrupt stop.

"Here we are David, lab B Three hundred and twelve the dreaded lair of doctor Joyce Mercy and look were just on time." Lucy smiled turning to face David, "Unfortunately this is as far as we can go, well meet up after the procedure ok."

"Joyce is the best in her field you have nothing to worry about," Alice added.

"Yeah Alice is right," Soren said placing his hand on David's shoulder.

"Beron." piped up Midnight.

The four waved goodbye to David, before walking back down the hallway. David turned his attention back to the door, swallowing hard he walked up to it and tapped his Pokedex on the terminal next to the door causing it to slide open rapidly. Stepping inside he was stopped by Blaziken and Lucario, after eyeing him up for a few seconds they stepped aside allowing him full access to the lab. The next thing David saw was a dark purple lunge at him and grabbing his hand.

"Excellent your right on time," Beamed the enthusiastic doctor. " I was worried that you had forgotten."

"No, ma'am," David said, still taken back by the doctor's demeanour. "If I need to get this done, then I will have it done."

"Well put." Joyce smiled, letting go of his hand and walking to a table in the centre of the room.

Laboratory itself was of a cold dark steel colour, around the room were various computers and holographic displays. Three displays caught David's eye, on them were his medical records dating back to when he was just a child. Looking back at Dr Joyce, David could see her fiddling with the table she had just walked to. The table itself was made of stainless steel with two padded arms restraints positioned on either side of the table, attached to the ceiling above the table was a device that looked similar a device that dentists use to shine light into a patients mouth. The only difference is that there were multiple robotic arms protruding from it, three were attached with thin needle-like drills and the rest with equally sharp-looking equipment.

"Before we start David," Joyce turned to look at him, causing him to flinch as he focused on her. " Are there any questions about the procedure?"

"What is the procedure? David's view returned to the device above the table.

"The implant of augmentation chips onto your occipital lobe as well as your temporal lobes, by doing this you will be granted improved vision as well as the ability to understand a pokemons natural speech." She smiled, picking up a small datapad and reading its contents.

"Why is it that I have to go through this procedure and how will it allow me to understand pokespeech?" David looked on as Joyce continued to look at her datapad.

"Well you see David, you may already know this but the occipital lobe controls vision and the temporal lobes control hearing and well as your sense of smell, taste and short-term memory. The two chips that we attach to your temporal lobes are able to process what you hear, human or pokemon." Joyce said looking up from her datapad, "If a pokemon speaks then the chips translate what said pokemon is saying to English, you understand. The occipital chip will strengthen your vision allowing you to see further as well night vision. As for why you need to go through this procedure is to be as effective as possible with any scenario and as you will be working with pokemon you will need it."

"I see," David said looking down contemplatively before letting out a sigh. "All right, what do I need to do?"

Joyce looked at David with a smile, any trace of fear that was once on his face was now gone.

"All right, let's get this party started then shall we." Joyce cheered happily. "Well first things first, I need you to take off your shirts and hop onto this table."

A slight blush came over Davids' face as he started to undress, taking off his shirt David folded it and placed it down on an adjacent table.

"Good, now all I need you to do is lie down face first," Joyce instructed, pointing to a part of the table that could only be described as a metal neck brace.

Laying down the brace locked down around Davids' neck, cutting off the heads movement. Watching as best as he could he saw both Talon and Fang grabbed hold of his arms and placed them into the two padded arms restraints locking them in place.

"Geez Doc, I wouldn't have pegged you as the type of girl who was into this." Joked David, trying to lighten the mood.

"Funny that's what they all say," she retorted, putting on a mocking seductive tone.

Walking back to the table and getting close to David's head, Joyce produced a flat rubber looking rectangle and held it to his mouth.

"Here bite on this, it will help with any pain and stop you from swallowing your tongue if something goes wrong." Joyce played the last part off as a joke. Taking the rubber guard into his mouth, Joyce leaned back in. "Oh, by the way, the safe word is Chrysanthemum."

That was able to get a muffled laugh out of her patient, moving back to the main desk David could see her typing away at her keyboard. After what felt like five minutes, Joyce turned back and looked at David.

"Alright, we are ready to start the procedure," said Joyce, tapping on her datapad.

The sounds of an unseen machine hummed to life, well unseen to David. Unbeknownst to him, the device that was attached to the ceiling above the table had started to move, slowly it started lowering itself down and positioning itself near Davids' head. Two hollow needle-like drills started to position themselves at either side of David's head just above his ears, the third position itself at the back of his skull. David's heart started to pound harder and harder, the sounds of the machine being defined out by the sounds of his own heartbeat. Suddenly the needle-like drills started to spin up with a whirl, David's blood ran cold. Inching closer and closer, David shut his eyes as the sight of the drills in his peripherals was beginning to make him panic.

All three drills made contact with exact precision, the needle-like design of the drill bits stopped any possibility of ripping a chunk of flesh from the hard bone underneath. David however, was in a world of pain, his eyes were clenched and his jaw locked down on the rubber guard. Every muscle in his body tensed up wishing to break free from the restraints and end the pain. It was a good thing it was stifling his cries of pain or else he would be cursing bloody murder. Breaking through the thin amount of skin and muscle fibre that protected the skull, the drills started grinding its way through the thick bone. The sound of his heartbeat replaced with the grinding of the drill bits cutting its way into his skull.

*Tack*

They were through, the small sound of the drills breaking through only audible to David who had eased up on the rubber guard and was now panting like a Growlithe. Drool poured from the corners of his mouth, slowly pooling just below where his head was resting.

"Almost done David, all that left is to attach the chips to the correct lobes and we are done." Piped up Joyce, her voice calming David down.

*BEEP* BEEP**BEEP**BEEP*

Suddenly out of nowhere the main console on the doctor's desk started to beep rapidly, panicked Joyce rushed to the console and started furiously mashing the keys on her keyboard. David was numb for all but 10 seconds before a sharp pain ran through the head, it was like a shock of electricity running up and down his brain. The pain was too much for David to handle, with a guttural scream his whole body shook and convulsed trying to break free from his restraints. The machine above retracted the drills with a sudden jerk leaving the holes that were left to seep blood, slowly David's world started to go black as the screams of doctor Joyce slowly faded into the void.


	3. Chapter 2

**/Hey Everyone, Sorry about the last upload. Don't know what happened there. Thanks for the reviews and messages letting me know. Sorry, this chapter took to so long to write, having a few issues at home at the moment. This chapter was a little bit of a train wreck and had to re-write after some elements I tried to implement blew up in my face. Thank you all for the continued support and hopefully, the next chapter will be a lot better./**

 **Chapter 2:**

 **NOVEMBER XXXX, ORACLE STATION.**

"URGH… My head." With a groggy groan, David blinked back to life. His head was screaming out in pain, a stiff uncomfortable pain. The overhead lights were blinding, forcing him to cover his eyes with one of his arms. Just as he did so, the lights seemed to dim, their hum drowning out the silence.

"I am never doing that again," He moaned to nobody in particular.

"You won't have to." Came the nervous sounding voice of a certain purple haired doctor.

"What happened doc, I couldn't even say the safeword." David chuckled as he forced himself to sit up. " I think that gag got in the way."

"I'm so so so sorry," She looked back at David, tears starting to well in her eyes. "I didn't know you would have such a violent reaction to the augmentation process."

"It's fine doc, I knew I wasn't going to die from it." A smirk forming on David's lips.

"I don't understand." Joyce's eyes shot to his, confusion etched in her gaze.

"I didn't see my life flash before my eyes." David laughed.

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY," she choked, her eyes glazing over on the verge of tears again. "You got hurt, It was my responsibility and I could have gotten you killed."

David saw the fear in her eyes, he already knew the stakes from undergoing a procedure like that. Any medical procedure that involves the brain was risky but sometimes you need to have a bit of risk to make the reward that much sweeter.

"I wasn't killed", he said staring into her eyes. "Not everything will go to plan sometimes, all you can do is learn from your mistake and make sure it never happens again." The seriousness in his tone seemed to calm her down, the tears in her eyes stopped.

"In any case did the procedure work, are the chips functioning?"

"After you blacked out all I was focusing on was keeping you alive, I didn't run diagnostics." She said looking down slightly. "I think we should wait till we know you're in the clear before doing anything else."

"You know... I hate leaving a job unfinished, It's one of my biggest pet peeves." David responded, Joyce now looked into his now golden eyes.

"You are incorrigible, you know that. I fear that I'll be seeing you a lot during your deployment." Joyce said turning her back to David.

"Eh… you say that like its a bad thing," David stated nonchalantly.

Joyce moved in the direction of a small table in the corner of the room, upon which was a datapad and a small hand mirror. She picked up the datapad first and slid it into a side pocket on her lab coat, she then picked up the hand mirror and started to move back towards the hospital bed.

"There was one major change I… noticed. It seems that the chip designed to enhance your eyesight had a slight malfunction." She held the mirror close to her chest as she got closer to David.

"Oh, Arceus… IM GOING TO GO BLIND!" The mocked fear in his voice caused Joyce to deadpan. Without another word, Joyce held the mirror to his face.

Seeing his new reflection for the first time, caused him to recoiled slightly. Davids stared at the foreign eyes, the golden hue from his iris caused a near hypnotic effect.

"Oh… I see… That's definitely going to freak out mum and dad." Chuckling slightly at David's reaction, Joyce pulled away the mirror causing his attention to return to her.

She then placed the mirror down on the bed before retrieving the datapad from her lab coat. Tapping on it a few times Joyce moved to the foot of the bed and flipped the datapad around and showing its contents to David.

"Alright, David we're going to test out your eyesight. All you need to do is read everything on this Snellen chart." Joyce smiled as Davids focused on the chart.

"Alright…" David listed out each letter from top to bottom with ease, the last three lines seemed easier than when he joined the military.

Upon completion of the chart, Joyce had a giddy grin from ear to ear.

"Excellent, the chip worked as intended. I guess the change of eye colour was just a by-product of the procedure." Returning to her datapad, there came a knock at the door.

"Come in," Joyce beamed, the giddiness in her voice returning.

The door creaked open to reveal Joyce's Blaziken and Lucario. Both held an array of items In Talon's arms were three sandwich boxes and an array of chip packets, Fang, on the other hand, was carrying a tray of take away coffee cups.

"Joyce, since you refuse to leave his side we got you some food, " Talon said as he entered the room.

"And I went and got some coffee, so how's he do…." Fang cut off seeing David sitting upright and looking at both of them with a second shine in his eyes. "Oh, he's up."

"And judging by the bewildered expression on his face he can understand you both." Joyce giggled. "This is… Amazing." David looked between the three. "I can understand every word, it's like they were just speaking English."

David was grinning ear to ear, aside from the change in eye colour the procedure did exactly as intended. Shifting slightly to the side of the hospital bed, David stood up and looked down.

Without realizing he had spent the entirety of the last twenty minutes conversing with Joyce with no shirt on.

"Um… Any chance I could get my shirt back?" David asked, turning back to look at the trio.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot about that." Fang being the first to respond.

Putting down the coffee cup tray he walked over to a chair adjacent to the hospital bed. Picking up a black t-shirt he started to walk back over to David.

"We needed to get it washed after a certain someone spilled some coffee on it." His eyes drifted towards Talon.

"What it was an accident, I didn't know that the cup still had anything in it." Talon glaring back at the Lucario.

"It's fine, no harm done." David smiled unfolding the t-shirt. "I'm surprised that you could get it cleaned up so fast."

"Sorry?" Fang looked back at David confused.

"You know, washing and drying a shirt takes time. I'm surprised that you could get it cleaned in such a short amount of time." Joyce looked at Fang and Talon before looking back at David.

"David… you were out for a few hours."

"Oh… Um… How long was I out?" Embarrassed by his assumption, David started scratching the back of his head.

"Close to eight," Talon said taking a sip out of one of the coffee cups.

"Ohhh… Damn, that long huh..." David's mind wandered back to Lucy and the rest of shadow squad. "I was supposed to meet up with Lucy and the others after the procedure was done."

David sat back on the bed, legs draped over the side. All he could do was look at the floor in disbelief that he was out of commission for that long.

"That's probably why they are in the lobby asking questions then…" Talon stared blankly at David before turning to Fang. "You want to go get them or should I."

"Hey I had to go to Admin to get the coffee, all you had to do was go to the cafeteria downstairs." Fang shot back with a growl, "You go."

With that, the Blaziken put down the coffee cup and started walking towards the door. Talon made a small growl of annoyance as he left the room. During that time Joyce had snuck up beside David once again.

"Surreal isn't it," whispering directly into Davids' ear causing him to jump.

'Gah... What the hell, seriously. Someone should put a bell on her.' David thought as his focus quickly shifted from the arguing pokemon to Joyce.

"S-surreal doesn't begin to cover it." David shifted his head back towards the Lucario who was currently fiddling with one of the small sandwich containers. "Serious question though, how does he drink coffee out of those cups with that beak?"

Five seconds of stunned silenced passed before Joyce burst out laughing. Fang just smirked at David's remark while managing to pop the lid of the sandwich container he was wrestling with. As Joyce's laughter began to subside, she wiped a small tear that had formed in her eye.

"Of all the questions you could have asked, I was not ready for that one." Joyce still chuckling at Davids remark.

"The answer to which is with practice and great difficulty," Fang smirked as he took a bite out of a sandwich.

That was all that was needed to make David chuckle. Joyce moved back towards the table and picked up a sandwich box of her own, it took Joyce less time to open before she started to snack away at it. The minutes passed as David and Fang talked and joked about tasks that humans could do that pokemon would mimic. The conversation stopped with the sound of a knock that came from the door, a few seconds later it was replaced with the sound of a jiggling of the doorknob.

"Soren I swear to Arceus above you are the biggest jinx in the region." The unseen voice of Alice being heard before entering the room. "If there is any permanent damage I will kick your ass from here to Kanto."

"Loch Ah knew thes would happen, Ah meant it as a joke. Ah, mean come on… Everyone at Oracle has been thru the procedure in a way or another without issue, whot war th' odds 'at thes would be th' straw 'at broke th' conkeldurrs back" The unmistakable accent of Soren trying to defend himself.

"*sigh*… would you two knock it off? I'm sure he's been through enough and doesn't need you two bickering. Seriously you're giving me a headache." Lucy said stepping into the room, with her hand on her forehead.

Soren and Alice were quick to follower her in, both staring daggers at the other. The last two in were Talon and Midnight. Talon walked over to Joyce as Midnight followed Lucy looking around the room nervously until her eyes locked with Davids. Like a Stantler in headlights, she stopped dead in her tracks. David looked back to Lucy and the other their eyes were in shock at the golden gaze that returned.

"Sup," David stood up and lifted his hand in mock salute. The trio looked at each other in confusion, a minute passed before Lucy broke the silence.

"You feeling alright David, after the three of us didn't hear from you after the procedure we got a little worried."

"I'm fine, well better than fine. My Vision has improved and I can now hear what pokemon are actually saying." David replied with a grin.

"Yer eyes are freakin' me ut." Soren chimed in with a slight recoil. A response that was quickly met with a quick and painful looking punch to the back of his head by a rather angry looking Alice.

"So… Doctor Joyce mind telling us why our newest recruit, the One we left in your… _capable hands_ … started off with blue eyes and is now returned with golden ones." The last part of Alice's questioning dripping in malice.

"Alice…" Lucy cut in, trying to calm her. "I'm sure there is a good reason for it, calm down. Now Doctor… if you will."

"Wow, I'll be honest wasn't expecting that reaction." David laughed before returning to his neutral stance. "There's nothing wrong, I had a bad reaction to one of the chips. The only issue is that it caused my iris to turn golden… apart from that, everything's fine."

"He is right there was no way for us to predict that this might happen… bar having a psychic pokemon perform future sight." Joyce moved closer to David to the point where she was basically hiding behind him.

"Besides there's nothing wrong with having golden eyes, ain't that right Midnight." Davids' eyes shifted to the Umbreon.

Midnight sat there completely lost in her own little world staring at David's new eyes. After a few prompts from David and a small nudge from Lucy, she seemed to snap out of it with a shake of her head.

"Sorry… Zoned out for a few seconds there." The response getting a chuckle out of Talon and Fang, Blushing the blue rings on her body glowing slightly brighter. "What did you say?"

"Seems Soren is weirded out by my eyes, I think that there was nothing wrong with having them. Don't you agree?" A small chuckle escaped him seeing her initial reaction, however, the happiness of finally being able to understand the little Umbreon left him grinning ear to ear.

"Oh, is he?" Midnight looked at Soren for a brief second, before moving towards the hospital bed and hopping up beside David. "Does that mean my eyes freak you out?"

"I didn't mean it loch 'at. It's just weird tae me 'at he goes frae blue tae gold loch its nothin'" Soren broke out in a cold sweat.

"You're just afraid that he'll be the new eye candy on the block." Mocked Midnight, causing the room to laugh as Soren's face crumples in annoyance.

As the laughter starts to die down, Midnight leaned on Davids side prompting him to give her a soft scratch behind her ears. An act which made her purr in contentment. After a few more minutes of explanations and a few playful put-downs that were directed at Soren, a low growl filled the room. This time it was David's turn to blush slightly as the focus was drawn back to him yet again.

"Welp seems someones hungry," Alice chuckled.

"Should head down to the mess hall, Its pizza night." Lucy smiled walking over the bed with a lower arm prompting the Umbreon to jump up onto her awaiting shoulder.

"Sounds good, I'll head down when I get the all clear to do so." David turned to Joyce who had finished her sandwich and was now munching on some potato chips.

"Don't need my permission, from what I can see your right as rain," Joyce said, putting down her pack of chips. "I will ask you, however, to take it easy and if you have any problems, head back here immediately. My door is always open." She finished with a playful wink.

With that, David thanked Joyce and her pokemon before following the others out of the hospital room. Walking down a relatively empty corridor David noticed something, Midnight seemed to be looking back at him from Lucy's shoulder. Not normal quick glances ether, she was just flat out staring at him. Normally this wouldn't bother David but this was different, she just seemed like she was in a trance.

"I just messaged Sam, Let him know that you were alright David." Piped up, Alice. "He's happy to hear that you are alright."

"Yeah keptin has always hud distrust abit th' doc" Soren chimed in, looking over his shoulder at David.

"Oh… why is that?" Asked David, still trying to avoid Midnight's stare.

"Nobody knows," it was Lucy's turn to speak. "Samuels been here longer than any of us, I've asked him about the distrust in her but he remains tight-lipped about it."

"Ah, just got another message from him. He said that he has a few pizzas from the mess and that we should meet him at the rec room. " Alice read from her Pokedex.

"I didn't know that those things doubled up as a messaging platform," David said in surprise.

"Our models do, yours doesn't unfortunately." Lucy turned her head to glance in David's direction. "All the more reason that you should work harder and get one though."

As the group exited back out to the observation area David couldn't believe that it had gotten so dark out. The observation platform was now bathed in white light from hidden light fixtures. Before heading into the medical centre, the platform and oasis below were filled with the hustle and bustle of life but now all was quiet. There were still pokemon below on the oasis floor, scurrying from bushes to small dens whilst in the trees bird pokemon rest in their nests. All was at peace.

Continuing on the group reached the recreation room, on one of the couches, sat Samuel. He was munching on a slice of pizza when they arrived, in front of him was a coffee table with five pizza boxes piled high with the top one open with a few slices missing already.

"Really you couldn't have waited till we got here?" Lucy glared at Samuel.

"What I was hungry, plus I was the one who went and got them." he smiled back, however that smiled didn't last when his eyes shifted to see David. "Oh sweet Arceus, what did that nutcase do to you."

"There was… a hiccup." David shrugged.

"I can see that, is it permanent?" Samuel asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not sure, all we can do is wait and see," David said nonchalantly as he walked around the couch before taking a seat.

The other followed suit, spreading out and getting comfortable.

"I hope you got me one with pinap on it," Midnight purred, jumping from Lucy to the coffee table before strolling over to the pizza boxes and sniffing them.

"Ach come on Midnight, ye dornt pit pinap oan pizza it's a cardinal rule." Laughed Soren.

"I don't mind it," Smiled Alice, shifting over to the pizza boxes and going through them. "Bit of spice and sour never hurt a pizza.

"I hate sour pizza," Lucy chuckled picking up a slice of mushroom pizza.

"Your pinap pizza is on the bottom Midnight," Samuel said moving to help the Umbreon. "I felt dirty ordering it."

The four of them carried on bickering over if pinap should be on pizza as David sat there in silence. Deciding on a slice of mushroom pizza, David just seemed to zone out as he watched the heated debate. It reminded him of home, a funny debate over nothing. Memories flooded his mind making him zone out further, a small nudge on his arm bringing him back to the realm of the living.

"Hrm…"

"Please tell them that pinap on pizza isn't a crime that is punishable by death." Alice looked at David in hope that he would be on her side.

"I don't mind it, then again I'm not that fussy." Smiled David before finishing off his slice.

Before too long a new topic was brought up for debate, and David went with it. Time seemed to speed up, David couldn't help but feel like he was getting closer to his teammates. Minutes turned to hours and suddenly it was nine minutes to midnight. David was the first to call it, the stress of the new environment mixed with the after-effects of the augmentation procedure seemingly taking its toll. After saying goodnight David b-lined it back to his quarters.

Opening the door the memories of the night flooded back, they had been so welcoming. All he could think of was his family back home in Verdanturf town. Moving closer to the bed David face-planted onto it, barely having the strength to get back up to change so he settled for just taking his shirt off.

'Midnight was acting strange all night, though it wasn't as bad as back at the hospital.' The thoughts of the way Midnight acted the entire night coming back to David as he stared at the ceiling. 'I think I might have a word with Lucy about it tomorrow.'

Davids' eyes closed, drifting into a deep sleep.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

 **NOVEMBER XXXX, ORACLE STATION.**

The early morning air feels warm as the sound of Kricketot and Kricketune drown out the silence. David shifts slightly on his bed, lack of sleep evident by the dark circles under his eyes. Looking at the holographic alarm clock on his bedside table, David was met by a very dim blue projection. Four thirty-five, shifting back to look at the ceiling his mind started to wander. Memories of his family started to crowd his mind.

David was the youngest of three and living with two older sisters wasn't the easiest thing to do. His mother was a pokemon trainer but hung that title up to breed starter pokemon for the local professors and researchers. David's father was a contract builder before retiring to help mum with the pokemon breeding program. Both of his sisters went off on their own journey one aiming to become the Hoenn champion and the other to be the world's best pokemon coordinator. With no interest in those types of dreams and the limited options of jobs that involved owning a pokemon, David joined the military to the dismay of his parents. Basic training was hell on earth but he was able to meet some interesting people, many from other regions but all sharing the same form of background.

Wanting to push his abilities, David signed himself up for medical training. The training for which was relaxed but thorough, it didn't say on the registration that it would also include training to diagnose and heal pokemon. David excelled, passing both the human-based medical training as well as pokemon medical training with perfect marks. However, this didn't leave David satisfied, he continued to push himself further and further. Unbeknownst to him, David started to break records in his training; hand to hand combat to marksmanship, David mastered every technique in the book.

This seemed to catch the eye of the higher-ups as he was quickly pulled from the regular training regiment and added into the special forces. The training was amped up, every day a new challenge, it made basic training look like a walk in the park. However, it was everything David was looking for. Being pushed to the very limit, it was the only way that made him feel accomplished. He completed it with flying colours and was given the combat vector of 'S' - Hyper Lethal. A title that prior to earning, only three soldiers apparently shared. The next thing David knew he was told to pack his gear and get on a VTOL to Oracle Station.

'Damn it's been nearly a year since I just up and left, I wonder how they are doing.' Moving to the side of the bed and sitting up, David continued to lament about the grounds of which he left home. Both of his parents had there own views on what he should do as soon as he left school. His mother being an ex-pokemon trainer thought that he should attempt the pokemon league challenge, his father just wanted him to have a stable job going as far as offering to employ him to raise and train the pokemon that were from the breeding program. It was because of this David had grown to distance himself from pokemon, granted it wasn't that he hated them it was just, complicated.

The day he left was the result of an argument, he didn't want to become a pokemon trainer but his parents didn't understand that. Pokemon are the lifeblood of this world, they were everywhere you went and nearly everything was based around them. In this world, if you didn't have a pokemon you were a nobody. David wanted to prove that mentality wrong and joining the military was the first step. Knowing that the SRT division involved rescuing pokemon wasn't a problem for David, in fact, he looks at it as a chance to prove that you can be somebody important without a pokemon. That not all problems need a pokemon to fix them.

Taking a last look at the clock, four forty. 'Skipped going to the gym yesterday due to all the commotion over getting the implants, I really shouldn't let that become a habit.' Getting up off the bed David headed to his chest of drawers, pulling open one he was greeted with fresh and neatly folded clothes. Shifting through them carefully not to crease the other clothes, he selects a grey t-shirt with PLSRT embossed in black on the top rear section of the shirt. 'These are new, I remember putting these things away. I just don't remember receiving them.' Setting down the shirt on his bed, he opened one of the lower drawers and rummaged around a bit pulling out a pair of training shorts. Unlike the shirt, these were completely black.

After getting changed and putting his old clothes into a hamper that he designated for laundry, David grabbed a small red towel and headed for the door. The hallways were empty, the hum of the overhead lights was the only sound. 'It's still too early for people to be up yet, best hurry down to the gym then. If I can get my workout in before everyone gets up that would be a bonus. I have a feeling that today will be a busy day.' David started to navigate the labyrinth of the barracks he started to get an uneasy feeling in his stomach. An icy chill washed over him, the feeling crept over every inch of his body getting worse hallway he entered. It was as if something was watching him, following him.

David rounded one more corner before stopping dead in his tracks and moving back towards the corner of the hallway he just came down. The paranoia of being followed flooded his mind, peering around the corner he hoped to catch a glimpse of his would-be stalker. 'Probably just a Ghost type pokemon loitering around trying to creep out others.' The hallway was empty, no sign of a ghost type pokemon anywhere.

At the other end of the hallway, however, the smallest amount of movement, something he would have probably missed if it wasn't due to his increase in ocular power. A black ear with a glowing blue stripe flickering at a corner at the opposite end of the hallway. 'Midnight, Oh sweet Mew. Is she stalking me, first the staring now this.' After one to two minutes of watching and keeping an eye on the flickering ear in the distance, it moved off.

'Ok so as soon as I get the chance I'm going to have a word with Lucy about this. Seriously does she not like me or something?' Moving off again towards the gym, David quickened his pace. Arriving at mettle dual sliding door with a sign. 'Human gym. Gee, thank you for specifying.' Moving closer to the door, he expected it to slide open instead it didn't even budge. Confused David touched the door looking for a leaver or something that would grant him access, his eyes came to rest on a terminal on the right-hand side of the door.

"Fuck." A flash of his Pokedex sitting on his bedside table appeared in his mind. 'Oh for the love of Ho-Oh, why the hell would you need to scan into a gym. This is a military base.'

David was brought back to reality by the sounds of a stifled giggle, turning around he was met with Lucy sporting a smug grin. "I really would have thought that Samuel would tell you to take your pokedex with you everywhere."

"He didn't, really should have though."

Sauntering over to the terminal, Lucy tapped her wrist mounted pokedex causing the terminal to flash green and the doors to slide open. "Well guess I'll let you in then, but next time you'll be left standing outside," she smirked as David thanked her.

The gym was fairly standard in regards to gyms on the other military bases David had been to, the main studio was split into three sections. On the right-hand side of the room was the cardio section, it consisted of a number of treadmills, spin bikes, rowing machines and even a few stair climbers. The centre floor was a weight training area, mostly consisting of dumbbells, a few bench presses and room for free weights. The last area was for specialised training, it seemed to be split between upper body and lower body machines.

"So what do you start with?"

"Normally I start on the treadmill to get warmed up, then it's over to weights." David started to make his way over to the cardio section.

"Oh, that seems like a fairly simple routine." Lucy started to smirk again as she followed suit.

Hopping up onto one of the treadmills David watched as she took one of the adjacent treadmills. "To most, it probably is, however, my warm-up is a little bit tougher." David set down his towel on one of the handles of the treadmill before clipping on the safety peg. Lucy, on the other hand, was ahead of David, she already started up her treadmill and was beginning to jog before moving into a run at her set.

As David set the pace he wanted to run at, the machine lurched to life. Slowly the belts pace quickened, going from a fast walk to a jog to a fast-paced run. Finally, it reached Davids preferred running pace.

"Don't you think you're going to burn yourself out at that speed?" Lucy said looking over at Davids control panel at his set pace.

"During training, I built my way up to this pace. Anything slower and I don't feel like I'm actually putting in an effort." David smirked as he looked over to her. 'Should I bring up the midnight issue?' Looking back ahead to the control panel David continued to ponder. "How did you and Midnight meet? I mean a shiny Pokemon like her is pretty dam rare, hell she is the first shiny I've ever seen."

"Hatched her from an egg, on my sixth birthday my parents gave it to me." Lucy huffed as she kept pace, "They didn't know what type of pokemon it even was, seems a friend of my dads who works at the local daycare centre came across it one day and no trainer wanted it so he gave it to my Dad."

It was David's turn to start huffing, keeping up the pace was his own challenge. "Heh… Lucky you. So wait why did you call her Midnight, or did you only start calling her that when she evolved into Umbreon?"

"I called her Midnight because she hatched at midnight."

"Oh… Cool." David looked up slightly, moving back into thought.

"Speaking of Midnight, She wasn't in my room when I got up this morning. Normally she's there to irritate me into getting up so she can take my spot on the bed while I'm down at the gym." It was Lucy's turn to look up in thought.

"I… I actually saw her on my way down. She was acting kinda… Odd." David looked over to Lucy who met his gaze.

"Oh… Odd how." Lucy razed her eyebrow. "Was she in like a trance-like state or…"

"More standoffish, she stalked me down a few hallways." David kept his eyes on Lucy awaiting her reaction.

Lucy was the first to break eye contact by looking back to her control panel. The hum of both treadmills and the heavy breathing of the two using them were the only sounds in the empty gym as Lucy remained silent in thought.

'Oh shit, I probably could have phrased that better. She probably thinks I'm a freak now for thinking that her pokemon was stalking me.' Davids' brain started to shift into panic mode before Lucy piped up again.

"Oh, I think I know what it is, She must be approaching her heat cycle." The giddiness in her voice causing David to wince as the memory of a certain purple haired doctor came to mind.

"Umm… Her heat cycle. Why would that…" Davids mind shifted back into overdrive as Lucy's little outburst only raised more questions.

Lucy giggled at Davids reaction before eyeing him up and down whilst he was in thought. "Don't worry only thinking out loud, I'll have a talk with her when I see her. After all, I bet all her staring has got you a little unnerved huh?"

Lucy hit a small button on her console causing the pace of the treadmill to drop slowly, David followed suit by hitting the same button on his own console. Both treadmills pace started to drop slowly signalling the end of their warm-up. Both Lucy and David followed the pace of the machines moved from a run to a jog, a walk, to a final stop.

"You noticed that too… Why do you think she was staring at me yesterday." Sweat slowly trickled down his brow. His eyelashes failed to stop the salty droplets assaulting his eyes, the stinging sensation causing him to rub his eyes softly before reaching for his towel and wiping the remaining sweat from his face. "Does she not trust me?"

Hoping off the treadmill and drying her own face Lucy remained silent before turning to face him. "While it is true that Umbreon tend to have a critical point of view when interacting with new people, Midnight is an exception."

"Still doesn't explain the staring yesterday though." David moved off in the direction of the specialised training area, Lucy following suit.

"That was because she was worried about you, we all were. Even Soren... though he probably wouldn't admit it. We definitely weren't expecting you to turn golden eyed."

Continuing on, David hopped up onto a leg press machine, set the weight and began his first set. Looking over to his right he saw that Lucy had settled on using the pull-up bar. Watching her, David noted on her figure. Lucy wasn't very muscular looking but the way she was able to get her chest over the pull bar told him that she was very physically fit.

When Lucy looked over her shoulder David quickly looked to back at the leg press, he was redder than a tomato berry. "Is there any reason why you are so worried about if Midnight likes you or not." Lucy huffed as she slowly lifted her self to the bar this time holding herself there, paused.

"I don't have the greatest track record with pokemon," grunting slightly David pushed the leg press platform back to its apex before slowly allowing it to slide back towards him. "I grew up around them but never formed any form of bond with them, my parents tried pushing me into becoming a trainer so in response I left and joined the military."

"Didn't really answer the question on why you care if Midnight likes you."

"Cogs in a machine won't turn smoothly if they don't link correctly. It's the same for a squad or fireteam, if all members trust each other then they perform better."

With one final grunt Lucy pulled herself over the bar and held the position once again before dropping back to the gym floor with a thud and turning to face David.

"So you think if she doesn't like you, that I won't like you."

"Essentially yes," panting David made a final push of his own sliding the leg press platform to its apex and holding it there as he looked at an approaching Lucy, who was slowly padding down her face with her towel. Allowing the platform to slide back down and locking into position, this signalled to David that it was safe to get off the machine.

"Just so you know, there is nothing Midnight could say or do to make me like or hate someone and that includes new recruits to my squad, " Lucy smirked placing her towel around her shoulders. "Though it does help if she likes you. Only a little bit tho."

Standing up Davids' legs felt like jelly as he gave them a light stretch before turning to wipe down the machine that he was using. "Every bit helps then."

Looking down at her wrist mounted Pokedex Lucy recoiled, slightly. "Mew above, have we seriously been here for that long."

"Wait, what's wrong?" David turned to face her with a confused look on his face.

"We should head back to our rooms and get freshened up, there's a meeting at eleven and all members of shadow squad need to be in attendance. If we leave now we might be able to snag something at the mess before heading over."

"First I've heard about it, is it really that important?" David lifts his own towel and patted the sweat from his brow before draping it over his shoulder.

"I'm not one hundred percent on what its about but I do know that we definitely shouldn't be late to it, Colonel Flint is one hell of a taskmaster when it comes to tardiness."

David nodded in understanding, vivid memories of his commanding officers dishing out harsh punishments to late or absent recruits washed through his mind like a torrent. Turning to head out the pair walk in relative silence as Lucy checked messages on her Pokedex.

"Alright, then I guess I'll meet you outside of the Administration building, Oh and don't worry about Midnight. I'll have a word with her." With a quick wave, Lucy started walking down the hall back to her own room.

Taking her advice to mind, David started walking back to his own bunk. The twist and turns of the barracks starting to grow on him. The hallways were no longer barren, a mixture of human personal and groups of pokemon could be seen in the hallways he passed. Commonly personal would be found with one pokemon but the more David paid attention he saw personal with three or more pokemon. Throughout basic training, it wasn't unheard of for a commanding officer to have a pokemon but for normal personal, it was next to forbidden.

Reaching his room David pulled a small latch on the door where a door handle would be. Clicking back into place the door slid open with a woosh. 'Thank Arceus, the door didn't lock when I went out.' he mentally sighed in relief. Stepping through the doorway, David beelined it straight for the bathroom.

A quick shower and a change of close later David headed back to the door again before stopping suddenly and checking his pockets. ' Damit almost walked out without it again.' David mentally facepalmed as he wandered over to his bedside table and grabbed the small red Pokedex. Walking back towards the door David glanced at the small device, the small screen showing the time.

"Ten minutes to eleven, crap. Don't think I'll have time to grab some grub, I'd better head straight for admin." Locking the door behind him, David broke out into a jog. Hallway after hallway passed till he arrived at the exit to the observation walkway.

'Dammit, I can't be late for this meeting.' The simple jog was gone as it morphed into a mad dash, on the walkway the world just flew past him. With most of the base up and about David was forced to dodge and weave through the myriad of researchers, military personnel and pokemon that were out on the walkway trying to get to either the mess or their assignments. It wasn't long before he reached the main observation platform however this was short lived as he jumped over a bench and beeline it down the gangway towards the administration building. Not breaking his stride he came up upon another short gangway leading to the two big glass doors that would let him access the building.

Standing outside was Lucy as well as a very nervous looking Midnight. 'Why is… Questions for later' His thoughts were interrupted by Lucy as she tapped her foot impatiently.

"Took your time. Meetings about to start." Smirking Lucy turns and beckons for him to follow, Midnight sticking close to her. Giving David a nervous look before turning away a small blush on her cheeks.

Walking into the building was like walking into a business centre, all around we're desk working soldiers all intent on getting as much done as they can. a number of them carried around data pads walking the halls of the building like robots, knowing exactly where they were going but still focused on the datapads in front of them.

"Dose Administration really need such a big building?" David asked as he followed Lucy down the twisting corridor, interrupting the sound of hard boots on polished floors.

"No... they are only the bottom two floors of the building, it's mostly filled with accountants, administration assists, teachers, lawyers etcetera… The middle floors are dedicated to ordnance, logistic those that manage the base's supplies and such. Top floors are for Deployment, the armoury, tactics room and of course the helli pads for dust off." Stopping in front of an elevator she taps her pokedex on a terminal causing it to light up before turning back to David. "Meetings taking place in the tactics room so no doubt it's going to be about our next assignment."

"I see…" Stopping just short of her. "My first deployment with shadow squad…"

"Baptism by fire." She snickers. "If you don't do well you'll be reassigned. But with your record, I reckon you'll do just fine."

"You've read my record?" David turned to her in surprise.

"Yep," She smiles back. "Quite the reputation you have. Piqued my interest when Sam said he had handpicked a new recruit for the team and after reading your record I can see why he picked you."

The trio stood there in awkward silence for a few seconds before a loud ding notified them on the arrival of the elevator. Quickly the doors opened and they piled in, tapping her dex on a terminal inside the lift the doors shut and the lift hummed to life.

"I heard we will be having a special guest to this meeting today too," Lucy said idly.

"Hmmm? A special guest?" Confusion etched on his face as he looked over to Lucy.

"Yep. The Hoenn champion. Apparently, he has some information about the next mission." Shifting her arms behind her head she shifts her neck causing it to let out an audible crack.

"Oh… What was his name again…?" Scratching his face in thought, "Stone wasn't it…."

"Steven, Steven Stone. You were halfway there." Lucy giggles. A secondary giggle emanates from the shiny Umbreon, David looks down towards her as she lifts a paw to stifle her giggling.

"Have you met him before?" David's focus returned to Lucy.

"Steven? Yes, a few times. He normally comes in when there is a very rare pokemon in danger or if it involves pokemon being smuggled in from other regions." giving David a casual glance before shifting her gase to the floor indicator.

"Rare pokemon? As in legendary?" David followed her gase to read that they were just passing the third floor."

"No… Rare as in unique, highly sort after or endangered species." Finishing her sentence a loud ding can be heard as the door of the elevator opens allowing the trio to exit.

Stepping out David was taken aback, instead of dropping them in a hallway the elevator dropped them right into a well-lit lecture hall esque meeting room. Walking down the front of the room the others were already resting comfortably in their seats. Soren and Alice sat beside each other in the front row, Soren looking relatively board as Alice was expressionless as she looked back to see us approach a smile forming on her lips as we got closer. They both were in casual getup with Soren wearing a white t-shirt and black cargo pants whilst Alice wore a grey shirt with matching grey sweatpants. Out at the front was a Samuel in a black military standard shirt and coat with A multicam tac pants with two cargo pockets either side. Standing next to him was a man that David had only seen in magazines, with light steel blue eyes and hair he looked like a very strong and capable trainer just by his gase alone. He wore a black dress suit with steel cuffs, definitely dressing to impress.

"Ah just in time," Samuel smiled nodding to the approaching pair reaching the front Lucy took a seat next to the others, Midnight hoping up into her lap and curling up into it. "Find the place alright Lance Corporal?"

"Only thanks to Lucy sir." Smiling David relaxes his stance before returning his gaze to the new guest. With a cough, the guest steps forward looking David up and down.

"Well… Haven't seen you before." Extending his arm the man holds his hand out, a slight jingle coming from the steel cuffs. "Steven Stone, Current Hoenn region champion and avid geologist. It's nice to meet you Lance Corporal um…? "

"David, David Kanter" Raising his own arm David gives Stevens hand a firm shake.

"Kanter? … Why does that name sound… familiar." Stevens' hand goes to his chin as he ponders in thought. "Wait… you wouldn't be related to Kimberly Kanter would you?"

"Oh… Seems my elder sister is making a name for herself.." David shook his head and let out a sigh.

Steven let out a laugh. "Oh yes, she is. Making great progress in the pokemon gym challenge. I believe she just completed the challenge at Fortree City."

"Well… glad to hear she's doing well.." responding in a monotone voice David turned and joined the others in the front row of the hall, taking a seat next to Lucy and midnight and crossing one leg over his knee.

"Ummm… Right anyway with everyone now present, we can start the debrief for your next mission." Stepping back next to Samuel, Stevin digs around in his pocket pulling out a small remote.

Clicking a button the lights dim in the room as a projector hums to life, a blueprint of a building is flashed up onto a screen at the front of the hall. It was a multilayer blueprint, fairly detailed. The layout resembled a warehouse of some sort, floor by floor David starts to memorise and note its layout. Another cough from steven cases him to return his attention to the Hoenn champion.

"Last week spies form the international police discovered a smuggler's den at the Slateport City docks. Form the intel that they had gathered it seems they are using one of the warehouses as a base of operations, shipping stolen and captured pokemon from other regions and storing them for sale or further shipping." there was a brief pause before the image being projected was replaced with an image of a big cargo ship docked at what could be assumed as Slateports docks. "Along with the blueprints, the IP was able to get ahold of a personal list as well as manifest of all pokemon that are currently in the facility. The… List may shock some of you."

Another pause and click of the remote pulls up an extensive list of pokemon. Some that David had known about but quite a number that he had not. On the list were ones that had stars next to there names, confused David raised his hand.

"Hmmm? Yes, Lance Corporal?" Steven looked over to David an eyebrow raised.

"The stars… Why do some of them have stars next to their species tags?" Bluntly David leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he stared at steven awaiting the answer.

This time it was Samuel to step forward. "The stars Represent Shiny or albino pokemon. Pokemon like Midnight." gesturing to the Umbreon still curled up in Lucy's lap.

"Yes. Shiny pokemon are big on the black market as they are collectable pokemon. Also… a lot of breeders will try to get shiny pokemon in the belief that they will have a better chance of obtaining new shiny pokemon from it." Interjecting, Steven put his hand to his chin. "However, research from top breeders proved that mating 2 shiny pokemon will not give you any greater chance of receiving a shiny offspring… Anyway, we are off topic." Shaking his head again and clicking his remote one final time, causing the slides to shut off and the lights to return to there full brightness.

"Soo… tis just a knockout opp then sir?" Piped up Soren, "Breach, capture ta personnel fur processin' an' free th' pokemon?"

"Yep Just another blow through opp." Smiled Samuel.

"Then why is Steven here?" Questioned a curious Alice.

"I'm here because there are Two pokemon on the manifest that are classed as endangered pokemon. The first being a Zorua and the other being its mother a Zoroark." Steven nodded, "Both are from Unova and have only been recently added to the endangered species list."

"So we need to make sure that they are not harmed was we conduct our raid…" I sigh escaped from Lucy, softly stroking Midnight in her lap, "Doesn't sound like too much of a problem."

Samuel folded his arms, looking over us. "In any case, we have to keep it in mind. We don't want them moving or hurting either of them if there is and we lose them command will kick up quite the shit storm." A grim look falling over his face, "Don't think that will help our public image either. So we are doing this by the book. You all should receive an email with the mission brief and each of your roles. We are to conduct the opp in two days so today read over your roles, memorise them. Tomorrow we will run a dummy opp in the training field before we set out. We'll be hitting them in the dark so adjusts your sleep schedule. Got it? "

Shadow Squad in unison "Sir, yes sir."

"Good. you're dismissed." Samuel turned and walked back over to Steven as the others begin to stand and prepare to head out. Midnight hops from Lucy's lap, brushing up against Davids legs as he hoped from his seat.

Alice gave a yawn as she began to make her way to the lift, Soren close behind her. Looking to we head after them, David took one last glance at Samuel and Steven as they began to discuss something. Reaching the others they strike up a conversation, normal idle chat to break the ice as we waited for the elevator to arrive. With a small ding, the doors slide open and we pile in. I look at Lucy who has a smug smile on her face.

Raising an eyebrow I cross my arms. "What?"

The others go quiet and look over to us as my question only seemed to amuse Lucy. She looks down to midnight before looking back to me. Midnight at this point was hiding behind her leg, her tail between her legs and a blush on her cheeks.

"David I want to ask a favour from you," She hummed in a cheery voice as the other returned to their own conversation about certain pokemon that were on the list.

Leaning back on the wall of the elevator David hesitated for a second before asking. "What type of favour…?"

Not a big one really," Lucy hummed. "I'm going to be out for the rest of the day, making requests and getting clearance for useful things for the upcoming op. Was wondering if you would keep Midnight company if she accompanied me all day she won't be too happy."

Staying silent, David shifted his view from Lucy to the now heavily blushing Umbreon. Her rings now fully lit emphasising her emotion. After a few more seconds he decided to finally break his silence.

"Sure. I'd be happy to look after her while you do what you need to do" Hearing this Midnight perked up, a smile forming on her lips as he stared at him with joy in her eyes.

Another ding cased the group to snap out of their conversations as the doors open again and peeling out and making there way to the lobby.

"Whelp, I best head over to the labs. Mercy needs my help with something and I'd best not keep her waiting." Alice shrugged as the group walked out of the admin building stopping in the foyer of the that leads to the walkway.  
"Hmmm, Think I might just head tae mah room. Catch up oan some sleep... Was working on some reports early this morning and didn't sleep a wink." yawned Soren as he rested his arms behind his head.

Saying their goodbyes the pair split off and headed off to their destinations, leaving the trio behind.

"I'll leave you two to do what you need to do, I probably see you both tomorrow" Lucy turned, giving David a wink as she did. Leaving a stunned and confused David and a giggling Midnight. As soon as She is out of sight, midnight walks over and nuzzles against Davids' leg causing him to look down at her.

"Well… Guess I'm looking after you for the night…" Smiling David crouches down and gives her a pet, stroking her jet black fur.

Giggling midnight looks back and gives him a wink. "Look after me well."

Hopping up onto his shoulder she gives him a happy nuzzle. Smiling David stands, keeping balance in hope that she doesn't fall from his shoulder before heading off to the walkway with midnight in tow.


End file.
